I picked it up Saturday! Rain in July in LA?! SURE! Top hydraulics leaked and top was stuck down...dodged all the rain for hour ride north to Ventura. Took the coast road PCH 1 through Malibu! Exhilarating! Neighbors came over to oogle it while I feverishly tried to get roof up manually. Squall comes through, neighbors laugh, as I angrily throw a car cover on it to protect the interior from hail and 1/2 inch deluge of %$#%$# rain. (Why are people so freaking cruel?? and mother nature can be a biotch too some times!)

Get on line and figure out pump and roof manual over rides (thanks to my wife helping me). Great! Wash my car from the rain. Replace the engine hood struts and check out under the hood. So ends day one.

Day two I order a drivers side Bosch headlight, trunk struts (OUCH! @^%&*& hurts the head), already have the roof O-ring kit and instructions, fluid, order new driver mirror glass, and some other stuff.

Day 3: Register and insure car. Fun to drive! Pretty frickin' fast and handles very well, hard to get in and out of (59 and in okay shape but still...).

Day 4: Commercial drive ways in California are hell on normal sedans forget a low sports car! Something to do with rain and flooding? Well when it finally rains in S. Cal it DOES flood so I need to get over it. Hit the exhaust gently? today on a store entry...

Leaving the gas station (only 16 mpg driving moderate to hard?) I hear a noise that sounds like a bad bearing or, a rattling exhaust shield or, Alvin the Chipmunk with a ball peam hammer tapping on metal when the car is under torque. Check the exhaust shields and some seem suspicious but moving them etc still a noise.

Having said that, I had a bolt come off a muffler clamp and land in a drain pan of some sort. The noise it made scared the hell out of me - fearing what new repair I was faced with. Thank god it was so simple, but I never would have associated the terrible sound with such an easy fix.

I'd check the heat shields before heading down the replacement cat route. They can corrode at the mounting points creating holes large enough to let them drop down onto the exhaust and rattle. Solution is to remove the mounting nuts (10mm) and insert 25mm repair washers between the nuts and the shield. Had to do this on both our SLK and C Class recently.

Mine only makes the noise under certain acceleration conditions. I will jack it up and check shields and give it some gentle whacks to see for sure.

I am also getting intermittent BAS/ESP light. turning the steering wheel lock to lock clears it but it came on twice yesterday. I really like the car but she has been testing me! My main car got jealous too! I went to start it (2009 Ford Escape Hybrid) and the 12v battery was dead. Just very low on water and it recovered after filling but I think she was getting back at me for fooling with the the new mistress so much.

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Hi all! I jacked it up and it is the passenger side Cat that is rattling. Why did they design the pipe with flange connectors on one side but a whole piece single pipe on the drivers side with the two Cats and the sensor?? It doesn't make sense to me. Is it best to buy a single CARB legal unit ( I am in CA) and have some one weld it up?? I see slip fit ones but that seems like an inferior way to install it. Damn car is being an expensive PITA but is so fun to drive....

Hi All - turns out BOTH cats were rattling. I went with Magnaflow CARB Cats. Beware they do NOT fit properly! The shop installing called me in to see them before they welded them up since they are too big to turn flat due to heat shields. They had to be angled to fit. I lost a 1/2 inch of critical clearance but I had no other choice. The shop actually had the Walker cats sent over too but they were even bigger. Oh well. My mistress cost me another $700.

Next is the water pump and then pads and rotors. Any one have any advice please chime in thanks!

Hi All - turns out BOTH cats were rattling. I went with Magnaflow CARB Cats. Beware they do NOT fit properly! The shop installing called me in to see them before they welded them up since they are too big to turn flat due to heat shields. They had to be angled to fit. I lost a 1/2 inch of critical clearance but I had no other choice. The shop actually had the Walker cats sent over too but they were even bigger. Oh well. My mistress cost me another $700.

Next is the water pump and then pads and rotors. Any one have any advice please chime in thanks!

Flush the coolant while doing the water pump. Use Zerex G-05 coolant or MB coolant ONLY.

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